During a press conference early this week, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg contended that “some beltways and interstates and highways were built . . .to be racist.” He used this argument to justify the $1 billion in the recent infrastructure bill aimed at “reconnecting communities” as well as other spending that will supposedly be focused on disadvantaged communities.
The Southern State Parkway, which Robert Caro claimed was designed by Robert Moses to prevent buses filled with blacks from traveling to Jones Beach. In fact, there is room for buses under the central part of the arch. Photo by Doug Kerr.
The argument that highways were racist stems from two sources. First, Robert Caro’s book about Robert Moses claimed that Moses deliberately built overpasses on New York City parkways too low to allow buses in order to keep blacks and other minorities (who would presumably ride buses and not drive cars) from reaching popular recreation areas such as Jones Beach. Second, the anti-highway movement of the 1960s claimed that highways were deliberately targeting black neighborhoods to force them out of cities. “No white man’s freeway through black man’s neighborhood” became the rallying cry. Continue reading
